The New Orford String Quartet, formed in Canada in 2009, had a mixed debut at the Phillips Collection on Sunday afternoon. The quartet gave a nearly note-perfect performance in two monuments of the string quartet literature from the later careers of Haydn and Beethoven, but beneath the immaculate sheen, the music didn’t always come to life as it should.

In the first quartet from Haydn’s Op. 76 set, the musicians were at their well-blended best in the Adagio sostenuto. The opening movement was on the frenetic side... [Continue reading]